India, May 24 -- Congress leader and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday highlighted that coal mining has been allowed in the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli and hoped that the matter receives sensitivity, scrutiny and urgency from the courts.

In a post on X, Ramesh said in May 2025, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change "predictably cleared" a proposal from the "Modani empire" to mine coal in the very dense forests of Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh.

"The area involved is about 7,000 acres and is very much part of the 'no go' area for mining identified in 2011 because of the richness of the forests and also because of the presence of elephant corridors. More than six lakh trees...